Flash floods in Catalonia: a man dies dragged by a stream in the Garraf

BarcelonaA man has died after being dragged by a stream in Garraf amidst the storm of heavy rains in Catalonia. The Generalitat Fire Department located his lifeless body this midnight, about 500 meters from where they found his car, in an accessible area, and recovered the body. According to a witness, a vehicle had become stuck in the stream and a person tried to get out, ending up being dragged away by the current. The Fire Department activated a device with about ten units after 11 PM, which ended up locating the victim. The Mossos have confirmed that it was the driver of the car.

The storm has caused a very difficult night in Catalonia, especially in the Barcelona area. At 9:30 PM, the Government sent an Es-Alert to phones in Barcelonès and Maresme warning of the risk of flash floods. The torrential rain has also caused mobility problems in the Catalan capital, where it was necessary to cut off the Ronda de Dalt in both directions and the B-20. Also in Santa Coloma de Gramenet in the direction of Mataró, where cars were seen trapped by the floods. All this has generated a very difficult situation on the roads. At 11 PM, the Government sent an Es-Alert message to five more regions—Baix Llobregat, Alt Penedès, Baix Penedès, Garraf, and Vallès Occidental—warning of the risk of heavy downpours. By 11:30 PM, the firefighters had accumulated almost 200 calls due to the storm.

Apart from the roads, the rainfall hindered rail traffic yesterday. Renfe reported that the R2, R3, and R4 lines were accumulating up to twenty minutes of delay because weather conditions forced the trains to travel at a lower speed. On the R4 line, circulation was interrupted between Fabra i Puig and Montcada Bifurcació. Some metro stations were also momentarily closed due to water accumulation, such as those at Sant Andreu, Fabra i Puig, and Trinitat Vella on Line 1.

In the morning, the situation at Rodalies has already normalized. On the other hand, in the metro, the central platform at Fabra i Puig remains out of service.

Regarding El Prat airport, up to 23 flights have been canceled due to the rains this past night. Furthermore, the company's website shows dozens of delayed flights at the same Catalan infrastructure.

Floods at Vall d'Hebron Hospital

The downpour has also caused flooding in the basements of the three buildings of the Vall d'Hebron Hospital, which also saw rain cause part of a false ceiling to collapse in the pediatric nephrology ward, with no reports of impact on patients at this time. As a precaution, there have been some transfers to other areas.

The storm—which was accompanied by lightning and thunder—also left 570 subscribers in the Catalan capital without electricity. Sources from the electric company Endesa explained to the ACN that company workers are working to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Civil Protection indicated on the X network that at the moment of maximum intensity, the rain caused six incidents in the electricity supply that affected 7,696 users. Once this moment passed, which lasted a short time, service was able to be restored for the majority of those affected.

The changing scenario has meant that throughout the evening, warnings from the Meteorological Service of Catalonia have been issued one after another. At 8:30 p.m., the Meteorological Service of Catalonia issued a warning for violent weather with the possibility of hail larger than two centimeters, wind gusts of more than 25 meters per second, and the possibility of downbursts, tornadoes, or waterspouts in the Baix Llobregat and Garraf regions. Fifty minutes later, the warning was for the Barcelonès and Maresme, where according to Meteocat there could be torrential rains that leave more than 40 millimeters in 30 minutes. The storm is now moving towards Alt Penedès and Anoia, where Civil Protection has also warned of the risk of hail, wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h, downbursts, and tornadoes.

Before, the storm had made itself felt strongly in the Gironès region, where the rains have left more than 40 litres per square metre in half an hour, according to Meteocat. The agency has issued a warning for the observation of intense rainfall exceeding this threshold in the area and has alerted that the downpours are very static. In some cases, they have been accompanied by hail. The Fire Department has registered around fifty services between three and eight in the afternoon, mostly in Girona, due to leaks and water accumulations. In Fornells de la Selva, 48.6 litres were recorded in 30 minutes.

At 5:30 in the afternoon, the rain gauges showed records such as the 48.6 litres mentioned in Fornells de la Selva, 27.4 in La Bisbal d'Empordà, 26.1 in Banyoles, or 21.2 in Cassà de la Selva. In the northwest of the country, there were also some notable figures, such as the 22.9 litres in Vielha.

Where the storm also hit hard is in Valencia, which has once again experienced images of flooded streets and cars trapped on the road and which even had to momentarily close the airport due to flooding.

Civil Protection Tips

Civil Protection reminds of the basic self-protection tips in case of torrential rains, such as reducing travel as much as possible and trying to avoid flood-prone areas and crossing rivers and streams. In fact, at 6:15 PM, the emergency management agency reported that due to persistent rains in the Girona regions, the Catalan Water Agency has issued a hydrological risk warning for the Ter basin. The Alert threshold for the Terri River at Cornellà de Terri has been exceeded with a maximum flow of 17 cubic meters per second, although subsequently the water volume has decreased to 5.22.

The deputy director of Prevention for Civil Protection, Joan Ramon Cabello, explained that the Inuncat plan is activated in the alert phase and recommended that, if travel is necessary, it should preferably be done via main roads and that low-lying areas, fords, and intersections with rivers and streams should be avoided. The head of the Meteocat Prediction Area, Santi Segalà, remarked that it is a situation "limited in time," with special attention during the afternoon, evening, and the first hours of the night, and asked to consult the radars and warnings from Meteocat. "It is a day to stay alert" to the precipitation, he pointed out. Segalà also appealed to citizen responsibility and recommended following official channels to monitor the rain episode.